North American Radio Broadcasting Agreement

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The North American Radio Broadcasting Agreement, usually referred to as NARBA, is a treaty made in 1941 between the United States, Canada, Mexico, Cuba, the Dominican Republic and Haiti relating to the allocation of medium wave frequencies for AM radio stations in these countries. In accordance with the treaty, clear channel frequencies were set aside across the radio dial, at a rate of about one per 100 kHz, and the 1230, 1240, 1340, 1400, 1450, and 1490 channels were reserved mainly for local stations. The agreement also officially expanded the upper limit of the AM broadcast spectrum from 1500 kHz to 1600 kHz. It required that most existing AM stations change frequencies, resulting in a massive shuffling of radio station dial positions. The new frequencies took effect at 3:00 a.m. Eastern on March 29, 1941.

NARBA is no longer in effect. It has been superseded by working agreements made in the early 1980s between the U.S. and Canada and between the U.S. and Mexico, and by an ITU-sponsored agreement covering all of the Western Hemisphere.^[1][2][3]

Among the most significant changes were:

Old Freq. (kHz)	Station(s)	Moved (kHz)	New Freq. (kHz)
540	CBK	unchanged	540	Canadian clear
550-680	all	unchanged	550-680
690	all, except CFRB	unchanged	690	Canadian clear
	CFRB		860
700-720	all	unchanged	700-720
730	all, except CFPL	unchanged	730
	CFPL	—	1570
—	new Canadian clear		740	allocated to CBL which moved from 840
740-790	all	up 10	750-790
—	new Canadian clear		800	allocated to CKLW which moved from 1030
790-830	all	up 20	810-850
840	CBL	—	740
—	new Canadian clear		860	allocated to CFRB
850-870	all	up 20	870-890
—	new Canadian clear		900	allocated to CHML (and CJBR)
880-970	all	up 30	910-1000
980	KDKA	up 40	1020
990	WBZ	up 40	1030
1000	WHO	up 40	1040
1010	KQW (now KCBS)		740	KQW did not move until 1947
1020	KYW	up 40	1060
1030	CFCN (now CBR)	down 20	1010
	CKLW		800
1040	WTIC KRLD KWJJ	up 40	1080
1050	all	up 20	1070	CBA became a new Canadian clear on 1070
1060	WBAL	up 30	1090
	WJAG	up 40	1110	this was later traded for 780 with KFAB
1070-1150	all	up 30	1100-1180
1160	WOWO	up 30	1190
	WWVA	up 10	1170
1170	WCAU (now WPHT)	up 40	1210
1180	KEX	up 10	1190
	KOB (now KKOB)		770
	WDGY (now KFAN)	down 50	1130
	WINS		1010
1190	WOAI	up 10	1200
	WSAZ		930
	WATR		1320
1200-1450	all	up 30	1230-1480
1460	KSTP WJSV (now WWWT)	up 40	1500
1470	KGA WLAC WMEX (now WWZN)	up 40	1510
1480	KOMA WKBW (now WWKB)	up 40	1520
1490	KFBK WCKY	up 40	1530
1500	all	down 10	1490
1510	CKCR (later CHYM)	down 20	1490
1530	W1XBS to WBRY (later WTBY, then WQQW; now dark)	up 60	1590	Since 1934 U.S. frequencies above 1500 had been allocated only to four experimental stations that broadcast with a signal 20 kHz wide for "high fidelity." The stations were converted to regular broadcasting (and regular call signs) with the NARBA frequency move.
	W9XBY to KITE (now dark)	up 20	1550
1550	W2XR to WQXR (now WQEW)	up 10	1560
	W6XAI to KPMC (now KNZR)	up 10	1560
—	new Canadian clear		1570	allocated to CFPL (AM)

[edit] See also

• Canadian allocations changes under NARBA
• Clear channel (which includes a more detailed listing of present North American clears)
• Geneva wave plan Europe

[edit] External links

• More on clear, regional and local AM Channels in Canada Mexico and USA
• FCC information
• "Building the Broadcast Band" the development of the 520-1700 kHz Medium wave (AM) band
• "Behind the Clear-Channel Matter" history of clear-channel AM radio stations

[edit] References